This invention pertains to panelizing machines, and pertains particularly to a panelizing machine and method for clamping and supporting a plurality of elongated tubes and performing welding operations on the clamped tubes to produce a monowall tube panel.
Various fixtures for supporting elongated structures such as tubes for welding are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,479 to Zifferer et al discloses a machine for automatically assembling tubes used for shell and tube heat exchangers, including a work table and a tube holding fixture mounted on the table. U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,946 to Kratschmer discloses an apparatus for clamping parts laser welding. U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,495 to Oda et al discloses an autofor matic welding apparatus having several degrees of freedom provided in association with a workpiece holder mounted on a carriage. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,539 discloses a heat exchange tube having dual fins provided on opposite sides of the tube.
However, such known devices are generally deficient in not providing adequate support for elongated structures during a welding operation, which can cause problems of misalignment for the welded structures such as when producing monowall tubular panels. Also, the prior art has apparently not provided a panelizing apparatus having plural traveling carriages, for which longitudinal movements are correlated with that of a universally movable welding torch unit mounted thereon to produce welded monowall tube panels.